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As the Iran war drags on, gasoline prices continue to climb. And with the price of crude oil having just hit a four-year high – at over $120 a barrel – the cost of filling up your car may not be going down anytime soon.
As I drive past gas stations whose price signs seem to have numbers rolling upward by the minute, I often wonder what actually goes into the cost of a gallon of gas.
So I asked Robert I. Harris, an economist at Georgia Tech who studies energy and environmental economics in particular, to explain. He has put together a straightforward breakdown of the main elements that drive the price of gas, and discusses how each of those contributes to the overall cost per gallon.
Along the way, he talks about the effects of gas tax suspensions, which are not as powerful as politicians or the public might expect, and why prices rise quickly but fall slowly. In addition, readers in California will likely learn something new about their own state’s special gas-economy situation.
Have a Curious Kid in your life? Let us answer their questions! Season 2 of our Curious Kids Podcast is coming soon, and we’re looking for children to ask a question on our program and get answers from our experts. Contact us at curiouskids@theconversation.com.
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Gas prices were well over $4 a gallon on April 28, 2026, in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Robert I. Harris, Georgia Institute of Technology
As US gas prices climb, politicians are looking at ways to lower them. An economist breaks down what does − and doesn’t − move the number on the sign at the gas station.
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Ethics + Religion
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Nir Eisikovits, UMass Boston; Cody Turner, Bentley University
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Politics + Society
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Nilgun Anadolu-Okur, Temple University; Jeremy Mennis, Temple University
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Allyson Gold, Wake Forest University
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